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Discover how supplementing your training with specific types of protein at precise times can take your recovery to the next level.

It’s important for coaches and athletes to expand their base of knowledge by studying sports outside of their primary focus. While a majority of a runner’s training needs to be running-specific to maximize potential, examining the techniques and training practices used by athletes outside the running world can open our eyes to revolutionary training and nutrition insights.

Take running and bodybuilding as an example. At first glance, it might seem fruitless to look for training secrets across these two diametrically opposed disciplines: one sport celebrates the phrase “gaunt is beautiful,” while the other strives to chisel muscle like a sculptor.

Believe it or not, runners can learn something from the training and nutrition plans espoused by bodybuilders. Specifically, how protein isolates (different types of protein) can be used to maximize recovery. Bodybuilders are masters at supplementing their training with protein intake at just the right time to fuel their muscles and spark recovery — something all runners can benefit from.

To understand how runners can capitalize on this lesson from bodybuilders, we must first examine how protein works to help muscles recover and prevent muscle breakdown. Using this knowledge, we can then understand how supplementing our training with specific protein types at precise times of day can help take your recovery to the next level.

Jeff Gaudette

Jeff has been running for 13 years, at all levels of the sport. He was a two time Division-I All-American in Cross Country while at Brown University and competed professionally for 4 years after college for the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. Jeff's writing has been featured in Running Times magazine, Endurance Magazine, as well as numerous local magazine fitness columns.